Old Acquaintances
by NightComesSwiftly
Summary: It's been five years since Encyclopedia Brown has done any case solving but all the old memories have come swirling back up to the surface and he must solve the most dastardly crime yet. First fanfic, enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

**First fanfiction, hope it doesn't suck overly much. **

Leroy Brown let the book drop to the floor. The pages of _A Psychologist's Guide To A Murderer's Mind _fluttered mindlessly before one cover of the book dominated the other and it shut. The sound blended with the quiet closing of a door. Leroy could automatically sense that something was not as it should be. One could owe it to his smarts, the fact that he often picked up on things ordinary people didn't, or just that he knew his father well enough to know how he closed a door. Leroy swung his legs over the side of his bed. The bed had once seemed enormous to him but now, at age sixteen, it was a bit too small for his lanky frame.

Leroy's father never just closed a door. He would slam it, tired from an exhausting day roaming the streets on the lookout for crime, but then would utter a happy,

"I'm home!" Leroy quickly exited his bedroom and made his way to the kitchen where he knew his father would go. His mother stood near the table that held three bowls of soup. _It's always soup. _Leroy thought somewhat disdainfully. His father was slumped in one of the chairs, looking a mess. He still had his policeman's cap clutched in his hand. His face was pale and he seemed shaken as if he had just seen a ghost. Leroy stood uncertainly in the doorway and nobody spoke for quite some time. After a few minutes, he cleared his throat. His mother turned around and his father jumped, uttering a startled exclamation.

"Oh Leroy," His mother said smiling briefly and not at all convincingly, "The soup will go cold, have a seat." Leroy was smart enough to know that something out of the ordinary had happened and itched to know what but he decided he would let his father calm down before he probed him for information like so many nights before. He sank reluctantly into a chair, picking up the soupspoon as he did so. The metal was unusually cold against his skin and he shivered involuntarily. There was complete and utter silence for a few moments, the clink of their spoons was masked my some unseen and unheard force.

"That's enough!" Leroy snapped, smacking the spoon on the table. "Are you gonna tell us what happened or are you going to just sit there not eating until mom breaks the silence?"

"Leroy-" His mother scolded.

"Just like always?" Leroy finished. His father looked at him for a moment and for the first time Leroy noticed the lines around his father's eyes, the streaks of grey in his hair, the telltale signs of aging. Finally his father looked away and sighed.

"There's been a murder." Leroy's mother gasped and Leroy sat up much straighter in his chair.

"Who?" Leroy asked after the shock had subsided. His father sat back in his chair with a shaky sigh.

"A young man by the name of Wilford Wiggins." He said despondently. The silence that followed was almost immediately broken by a soupspoon clattering to the floor that had fallen from Leroy's hand.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter two, the plot thickens!**

_Wilford Wiggins. _Leroy was vaguely aware of a voice saying his name but anything other than what he had just heard was irrelevant. Visions of dowsing rods, magic tablets, and square eggs flitted through his mind. Leroy hadn't seen Wilford for years. There had been rumors that his mother had finally been fed up with his behavior and had sent him off to military school. That had been four years ago. Leroy had a terribly sad feeling. _He returned home just in time to be murdered._

"Leroy!" This time the voice was loud enough to snap Leroy back to the present. His mother looked a bit panicked but her face flooded with relief as Leroy looked at her. His father looked concerned and Leroy felt a twinge of guilt at having perturbed his father more than he already had been. Leroy opened his mouth to apologize but his father seemed not to care about explanations.

"Is the name familiar?" For a moment Leroy was taken aback. _Well duh. _He thought at first and then he reminded himself of his father's ignorance of his activities.

"Yes, very." He said irritably not knowing why the fact annoyed him as much as it did. "I stopped him from swindling little kids out of their money more times than I can count." His father looked confused.

"What-"

"Remember that whole detective business I had when I was younger?" He said, speaking as though he was explaining something very simple to a small child. "Yeah, it did really well, not like you ever bothered to ask about it." Leroy was astounded at his own rudeness but it was something that had annoyed him for years. His father flinched as though the stinging remark had come from an actual bee rather than the mouth of his son. "Well?" He asked, not giving his father time to speak. "Got any little clues on that little notepad of yours? Aren't you gonna read them to me and then let me ask a question?"

Cowed, Leroy's father hurriedly pulled his notepad out of his pocket. "Yes, um, he was stabbed several times in the chest and stomach. Each one was a killing blow." Leroy listened intently, shutting his eyes involuntarily. _Old habits die hard. _He tried to envision the scene.

"Was there anything next to the body, anything that shouldn't have been there?" He asked.

"Yes actually, something very strange." There was the sound of a page turning. It was a familiar sound. _Blasted notebook. _Leroy thought fleetingly. For once the irritating familiarity, and _repetition _of the situation began to sink in. "There was a crudely made paper crown lying a little ways off." Leroy's eyes snapped open his brown irises clouding rapidly with memory upon painfully clear memory.

"A paper crown?" He inquired sharply. His father looked up from his notebook, eyes hopeful.

"Yes, a paper crown, does that give you any ideas?" Leroy stood up quickly and rushed to the door, unlocking it before stepping swiftly into the warm summer evening. "Where are you going?" His father called and Leroy heard the scraping of chair legs as his parents stood.

"Sally's. I need her for this." He called out. He climbed into the driver's seat of the car (He had passed his test with flying colors a week before).

"Your soup will get cold." His mother attempted feebly put Leroy had already turned the engine on and her words were lost in the car's low rumble. Face hard and determined Leroy pulled out of the driveway.

**Things get going! Next chapter we meet more old friends. (Hint, one of them is a lot more than a 'friend' now).**


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm alive! I am so sorry for not updating this earlier, there is no excuse but here it is!**

Sally met him at the door. Leroy didn't even bother to ask how she could have possibly foreseen his arrival. Even if he had he was sure that the reply would have confused him to no end. Despite her tough, boyish exterior Sally was still undeniably a girl a fact that left the workings of her mind an absolute mystery. Besides, there were more important things on his mind than a girl's mystery shrouded brain. Oh no, I am by no means referring to the recent _murder_, though one would think it a difficult thing to forget. No, the things on Leroy's mind were the things that would be on the mind of any sixteen-year-old boy.

They are as follows: The way Sally's golden hair fell so delicately around her face, her thick dark eyelashes that draped over dazzling green eyes, her light blue sweater that revealed the pale ridge of her collarbone and the soft curve of her neck, and lastly, her full cherry lips that were parted ever so slightly.

No amount of mental slapping could rouse Leroy from his stupor. Sally had been the prettiest girl in the grade back in middle school and absolutely nothing had changed. Not her smile, her hair, or those eyes. She had accumulated several other titles over the years which included a place on the honor roll, (Right under Leroy himself) the star of the girls lacrosse team, the one who held the record for number of times beating up Bugs Meany, and Leroy's girlfriend of almost one year. This last one gave Leroy immense satisfaction and he constantly reminded himself to thank his good fortune every chance he got.

Sally quickly realized that Leroy was not going to stop staring at her dumbly of his own accord so she made the quick decision to take matters into her own hands, standing on her tip-toes (Leroy was rather tall) and planting a firm kiss on his lips. It did the trick.

"To what do I owe this pleasure?" She asked, batting her eyelashes. The incredibly girlish motion would have seemed ridiculous to most people who knew her personally and Leroy was finding it hard to refrain from laughing.

"To who ever murdered Wilford Wiggins." He said, settling for a shrug and the ghost of a smile. Sally blinked. Then she blinked again. Each time her eyes seemed to grow a little bigger. Leroy thought once again how beautiful her emerald irises were.

"Wilford's been murdered?" She sounded incredulous, "Wilford Wiggins?" Leroy nodded.

"I'm afraid so." Sally closed her eyes, leaving Leroy a tad disappointed. He watched her breath quickly in and out trying to calm herself and make sense of the situation at the same time.

"You have a clue." It was not a question. Leroy grinned.

"A paper crown." Sally's eyes snapped open, still wide.

"It's always him isn't it?" She asked suddenly. Leroy opened his mouth to say something along the lines of,

"Well, not all the time." But he paused to think, frowning. _The tent, the sword, the marbles, the harmonica, the tooth collection, _and of course, _Why is it always the second chapter?" _After a few minutes he was forced to agree.


	4. Chapter 4

**Enemies can become friends.**

The Tigers clubhouse was a dilapidated tool shed mostly hidden from view by the sprawling fortress that was the auto body shop. Mr. Sweeney had owned the business. He was a quiet, bespectacled man but had suffered a sudden stroke several years ago and the shop had been left to Mr. Sweeney's nephew. The nephew had managed his expenses poorly and the business had been driven into a deep debt. Eventually the auto body shop had been altogether abandoned, leaving one big empty building that nobody ever thought to tear down or turn into something useful. Sometimes, on Halloween, the kids in the neighborhood would come and set up their haunted houses inside. Sadly, even that practice was stopped when Nathan Winslow, the Idaville boy famous for his good manners had broken his ankle when he fell through a gap in the floor.

The clubhouse remained, though it had gone through the same level of change as the auto body shop. Bugs Meany had tried to abolish the Tigers saying he was tired of always being the bad guy. _He has a point. _Leroy often thought, _the second chapter. _That thought was inexplicable; Leroy never really knew where it came from. Anyway, the rest of the Tigers had called Bugs a sissy and continued on as the Tigers: Minus One but they left Bugs the clubhouse.

Leroy smiled as he approached the shack, catching a glimpse of the rectangular hole cut out of the side and the red curtain hanging across it. The letters glued above it read: Puppet Theatre.

Wilford hadn't been the only one to turn over a new leaf. Bugs had apparently realized that he was better at spinning stories than he was at spinning lies and he put on free shows every afternoon for the neighborhood kids. Leroy knocked on the wood, hearing the dry echo as his skin collided with the boards that had once formed a tree. There was a rustle of movement from within and the curtain was pushed aside. A lanky boy with rusty colored hair poked his head out.

"Sorry, the show was this afternoon, you've missed-" Bugs began but then he recognized exactly who it was that was standing outside the shed.

"Hey Bugs," Leroy said, "Can we talk to you?" Bugs grinned.

"Well if it isn't the brains and the brawny beauty." He said, "Come on in." A few moments later Leroy and Sally stood inside the small theatre. Bugs was seated before them, fashioning a cardboard crown on the head of a royally dressed puppet. "What can I do for you folks?"

"We've come to talk to you about a murder." Bugs whistled.

"That's a new one." Then he smirked. "You haven't done this detective thing in a while, shouldn't you be starting with something a little easier?"

"Bugs, it's about Wilford." Sally put in. Bugs paused in his work for a moment, then continued.

"Yeah, I read about that in the paper, it's too bad."

"Since when do you read the paper?" Leroy asked suspiciously. Bugs didn't miss a beat.

"I repair the puppets with paper-Mache," He said, leaning away to take a good look at the crown, "The article caught my eye." Leroy was still skeptical.

"The body was only discovered this morning, how was it in the paper?" Bugs sighed, letting his arms hang down. He reached beneath his chair, puling a newspaper from a stack of identical ones.

"Here," He said, handing the paper over to the two detectives, "I never used it." Leroy scanned the front page. "Take a look at what newspaper it is."

"Idaville _Evening _Post." Sally said guiltily, then flashed an apologetic smile Bugs' way.

"It's cool." Bugs said, picking up a paintbrush and a small can of gold paint.

"There's something we need to talk to you about that isn't in the paper." Leroy said, finally looking up from the paper. "It's what they found next to the body."

"Well?"

"A paper crown." Bugs stopped moving. The excess gold paint hanging from the brush finally gathered too much tension and dropped onto the table. At that exact moment Bugs slammed the brush down on the table causing the puppet to wobble. He turned in his chair to face Leroy and Sally. When he spoke it was somewhere between a scream and a plea.

"It isn't always me you know? Not anymore!" Leroy jumped a little but Sally didn't react at all. It worked out nicely, Bugs wasn't done talking. "I made crowns for the puppets out of paper, but they kept blowing away," He continued, voice quit now, "I finally started stapling them to the puppet's head but the last one disappeared." He rested his elbows on the paint-spattered table and his head in his hands. Leroy was shocked when Sally reached out and patted his shoulder.

"Don't worry Bugs," She said confidently, "We're going to find out who's trying to frame you." He didn't look up but Leroy still saw him give them a weak smile.

"Who would want to frame Bugs?" Leroy mused as they walked away from the clubhouse.

"I'm sure there are lots of people with grudges against him."

"That's pretty much the entire teenage population of Idaville." He grumbled.

"Well," Sally said brightly, "Let's start looking. Why don't we get the old gang together?" Leroy shook his head.

"Most of them are on vacation, they won't be back for a few days." Suddenly he snapped his fingers, "Hey, what about Charlie Stewart? I haven't seen him for ages." Sally shrugged.

"Works for me."

**And there we have it for once it isn't actually Bugs, (Or is it). Warning: Yes, I am including pretty much every single character. I'm re-reading all the books and making a list. It's super long.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Apologies if this is too creepy.**

When Jeffrey Dahmer was in his teens, one of his hobbies was collecting road kill, dissolving the flesh in acid, and keeping the skeletons so he could study them. Leroy had plowed his way through the entire True Crime section at the Idaville library and had come across the fact in multiple books that included the Dahmer murders in their contents. The fact had stuck in his mind like every fact he was ever exposed to and had been locked away for future reference. For the first time in his life Leroy Brown was actually trying to put the thought out of his mind.

"Charlie is out back in his shed," Charlie's mother had told them. She was a short, brunette woman with gaunt eyes and cheekbones. "He's playing with his… Friends." The door had closed. Sally frowned, urging her coat zipper to go even farther up despite the fact that it had already reached her neck. It was unusually cold for June and it looked as if it might rain later in the day. Leroy immediately knew that he did not want to take shelter in Charlie's shed no matter how nice his _friends _were.

"Charlie?" Sally flinched as a bird skeleton brushed her cheek.

"In here." The voice reverberated off of the animal bones, making for the most unpleasant echo Leroy had ever heard. He skirted the remains of a few raccoons before his old friend came into view. Charlie was hunched over what appeared to be a small dog. Leroy heard Sally stifle a gasp, hand covering her mouth. "This will only take a moment." Leroy now saw that the boy had a pair of tweezers clutched in his wiry fingers and that he was plucking something resembling flesh off of the unfortunate animal's jawbone. "The acid always leaves one or two things behind, it's a pain but anything stronger might harm the bones."

"Good to know." Leroy said, grimacing at the sight. His friend had obviously forgotten about the tooth collection and had set his sights on something bigger, _and much creepier._

"Now into the bleach." Charlie picked up a pair of tongs and transferred the dog's skull bone from the worktable into an old gasoline tank near his feet. He swiveled his chair, wiping his hands off on a rag stained with brown and white streaks. "What can I help you with this rather awful day?" A dim reading lamp glinted on Charlie's spectacles. His vision hadn't shown any sign of failing back in middle school but by the summer after freshman year he was crashing into things. He hadn't gotten the hang of contacts quite yet.

"Have you heard about Wilford Wiggins?"

"I read it on the front page this morning, is that what this is about?" Leroy nodded. "Do you know how he was murdered? Your dad told you didn't he?"

"I'm not authorized to tell you that, I'm just here to ask a few questions."

"No need to go all detective on me but okay, ask away."

"Where were you two nights ago?" Charlie raised his eyebrows.

"Yikes, you're serious aren't you?" He crossed his legs. "I was in here. I had just found a dead cobra out in the woods and I was stripping it, the skeleton's over there." He pointed at a long line of bones on a nearby shelf. "Have you talked to Bugs? I think the article in the paper said something about a paper crown, didn't he always wear one of those?"

"We talked to him." Sally replied.

"Oh?" Charlie cocked his head to the left.

"Everybody's a suspect." Leroy said abruptly, "That includes you Charlie."

"But I just gave you an alibi!"

"It was a good one too but you forgot one thing…"

**What did Charlie forget?**


	6. Chapter 6

**What did he forget?**

"Cobras are not native to Indiana Charlie, the only one you're ever going to find around here is the health insurance law, COBRA." Charlie blinked. Then he sighed.

"Well, you've got me there."

"Come on Charlie," Sally said, "you could have said Blue Racer and it would have been fine."

"Well excuse me for not knowing what kind of snakes are indigenous to northern Indiana." Charlie huffed, crossing his arms.

"So where were you, really." Leroy asked, flinching when his knee knocked against a raccoon skeleton. Charlie uncrossed his legs then crossed them the other way.

"Fine. If you must know I was seeing a movie with Bugs." Leroy and Sally both raised their eyebrows.

"What movie?" Sally asked, green eyes sparkling with intrigue.

"Killer Klowns From Outer Space." Leroy and Sally shared a brief glance before they both descended into laughter.

"That's a real movie?" Sally asked between giggling gasps.

"It's on the top 25 worst horror movies ever made!" Leroy doubled over, chuckles still pouring from his throat. Charlie blushed, ducking his head.

"Go on, laugh. It was violent, okay? People get liquefied."

"Killer Clowns? Tell me they don't spell Clowns with a K." Charlie blushed again. Sally laughed even harder.

"Okay," Leroy said, wiping his eyes, "How late did you two stay at the theater?"

"I stayed for the double feature, I think that ended at ten but Bugs had to leave at eight."

"Did he say why?"

"I didn't ask but he wasn't too happy to leave."

"When was the murder?" Sally asked, still giggling but attempting to stay serious.

"I'll have to ask my dad." Leroy replied.

"You don't think Bugs did it do you? That doesn't make any sense, he wouldn't do something like that."

"How are you so sure? Do you know him really well?" Charlie coughed, coloring a little more. Sally smirked.

"Never mind." She said, pulling Leroy towards the door by his sleeve. "We have a lot more people to talk to."

"We'll leave you to your bones." He called over his shoulder before they stepped out of the shed. It was beginning to drizzle and it seemed like it might begin to rain in earnest quite soon. "Why do you think he didn't want to tell us that he was at the movies with Bugs?" The tall boy asked as they walked down the road. Sally's eyes twinkled.

"Think about that for a minute." They walked on, not speaking and Leroy found himself beginning to understand. He grinned.

**So, at the movies with Bugs? What do we call that, hint: it begins with a D and ends with an ATE. Not that I'm implying that whatsoever but that's for you to decide. It looks like Bugs is back on the suspect list…**


End file.
